EVERY existing diving record for dolphins was broken on Monday when Bermudiana, one of three wild dolphins fitted with satellite tags by field biologists, travelled to depths exceeding 600 metres (1,950 feet) in waters off the island.

The satellite tracking tags, which are attached to the dolphins' dorsal fins, are designed to detach after three to four months of delivering location and depth data.

Chip, the second of the dolphin trio, accompanied Bermudiana on a week-long journey to 124 miles northeast of Bermuda.

Previous studies of wild dolphins focused on shallow water and near-shore populations, but these record-shattering incidents prove that dolphins are significantly deeper divers ? and swimmers ? than scientists were previously led to believe.

In the meantime, Leigh Klatsky, field leader for the Bermuda Wild Dolphin Tracking Project, spoke to the about why the recent activities of Chip, Bermudiana, and JD were so remarkable.

"There's a lot of information we don't know about "There's a lot of information we don't know about dolphins," Ms Klatsky said. "Most of the information we have is from coastal animals, who only live in pretty shallow waters, say, ten to 15 metres. This is the first project to actually record the diving of these animals.

"Initially, three years ago, when we first did the project, they were surprising us by going beyond 500 metres, because the tags that we used back then only recorded up to 500 metres."

However, things change ? technology in particular.

"This time around, we got tags that could obviously record deeper, and they're surprising us again by making dives greater than 600 metres. We can determine that (the dolphins) are making dives between 600-700 metres, which is just about a third of a mile, so this is a big surprise to us as well. They're going much deeper than anyone perceived they would be going. I mean, they're lasting up to 11 minutes, which is another big surprise to us."

When asked how long a dolphin usually remains underwater, Ms Klatsky said: "That depends on what they're doing down there. If they're diving and searching for food, they could be diving for a longer period of time. For coastal animals, I'd guess probably up to five minutes or so, but we're seeing dolphins diving up to 11 minutes, which again is a lot longer than we were expecting."

As far as previous diving records for dolphins go, scientists don't have that much to go on. "There is a record of a trained animal that was in human care back in the 1960s. I think it was part of a US Navy project; they trained it to dive down as deep as it could, then come back up. He went down to about 536 metres. That's an animal being instructed to dive down as deep as it can go.

"So, we realised before that they could go that deep, but to be able to study the wild animals and see how far they're going, this is something that hasn't been tested before. What's important to know is that it was a trained animal doing that, it wasn't normal behaviour.

"I think we're establishing new insight into this ecotype of a species, considered to be the offshore animals, which have not been studied before," she said. "We're really working in uncharted territory, because no one has been able to examine these offshore animals like we are. We're thrilled at the information that we're collecting, and there's so much more we can look forward to study."

As for the current status of the dolphins, "We still have one animal transmitting (JD, one of the trio), and he will be going on a month on Friday. We're thrilled with the information we've received from Chip and Bermudiana as well. I believe Bermudiana's tag has fallen off, and Chip's too, because the way the data was coming in made me believe that the tags fell off ? which they're meant to do."

Ms Klatsky also took time to describe Dolphin Quest's goals more clearly.

"Dolphin Quest has a strong belief in conservation and global stewardship. To have these animals that we know nothing about, that we have in our backyard, that alone was enough cause for us to go forth with these big efforts.

"We feel its part of our duty to be able to learn from these dolphins, to gather more scientific knowledge about them, and to share that with the public and our guests as well. It's not easy-going out there with these projects.

"To have the full support of Dolphin Quest the whole time, saying, 'We're doing this until we get the job done, and we're doing it right,' is fantastic. They've been tremendous supporters, and they support research all over the world."

Kelly-Anne Winfield, a volunteer intern working for Dolphin Quest, went on one of the dolphin-tagging expeditions.

"It was a very interesting experience. It helped me to learn new things about the island, to see it from a different perspective. The nice thing about working for Dolphin Quest is that you get chances to be out a bit more, to be a little more isolated and away from Bermuda's craziness.

"Mr. (Mike) Hayward (captain of the expedition boat ) was a really pleasant, really nice guy. If we asked anything about a fish, or something we saw, he was able to tell us what species it is. He'd give us some good sea stories as well."

Although she wasn't lucky enough to be present when Bermudiana, Chip, and JD were tagged, "I was able to see some whales while I was out there. I believe it was about four whales we saw. They came by and checked us out ? we also checked them out," she added, somewhat mischievously.

In the meantime, Ms Klatsky wanted to give a few honourable mentions.

"I just want to say that Capt. Mike Hayward and were just wonderful. He was our captain, and we really couldn't have done it without him. I also want to thank the Dolphin Quest staff, and the Bermuda Aquarium staff. It was a genuinely collaborative effort, and I want to get that across."